Wow. It's stunning. The black-and-aluminum combo works so well, character and gravitas to spare. And it even sounds amazing. Congratulations for this awesome restoration. This should have a place in your library typewriter exhibit at XU if you ever get that chance again.

That machine means business! Looks great and seems to be working very nicely. Congratulations!

How does it compare with the IBM Executive, for instance? Both are big desktop machines with plenty of mass and automatic return keys. And but hum nicely when they're on. Which one would you use if you had to do some serious typing?

Both the Underwood and the IBM are heavy, powerful machines that paradoxically have a finger-light touch. For serious typing, I would definitely pick the Underwood, because the proportional spacing on the IBM Executive requires very accurate typing -- otherwise, fixing the errors will drive you crazy.

I hadn't thought about a carbon ribbon. I should post a typing sample from the Retro-Lectric. To be honest, its print quality is not fantastic, as there are some alignment issues.